Sciatica - the cause and the cure

What it is Sciatica is the name people give to a pain in the buttock, leg or foot brought on as a direct result of some form of irritation to the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body. It runs all the way from the lower back splitting at the base of the spine and terminating in the foot.

For you to beat sciatica and remain pain free you need to address this joint. You need to relax the tight muscles around your lower back and pelvis, improve the nerve and blood supply to the weaker muscles, improve joint function in your lower back and balance the pelvis.

Your Sacro-Iliac Joint. The joint that attaches your sacrum (the wedge shaped bone at the base of your spine) to your pelvis. This joint is one of the main gravitational joints, meaning - all the weight of your body goes through these joints.

No matter what the condition, it is imperative that the chiropractic neurologist performs a thorough and comprehensive exam to determine the exact nature of the patient's condition.

Surgery Surgery also brings relief to patients. Surgery is performed when the pain does not subside even after rest, medications or other forms of treatment and the nerve compression leads to other problems like extreme weakness and bladder incontinence etc

Other medications like Corticosteroids taken orally or by injection are sometimes prescribed for more severe back and leg pain because of their very powerful anti-inflammatory effect. Corticosteroids also have side effects and the pros and cons of taking them should be fully discussed with your doctor.

There are many different treatments for sciatica and it is important to discuss these with your health practitioner. Accurate diagnosis to determine the exact cause of sciatic pain is also equally important. The most conclusive diagnosis is usually gained by a having an MRI scan. However having said that skilled medical practitioners, and I include Osteopaths and Chiropractors, are often able to determine the suspected cause by carrying out a physical examination

In most sciatica cases you are told to stretch to ease muscle tension. You are told that it is a disc and you may need surgery or at least a long rehabilitation. Yet more than 87% of all sciatica cases have this joint involved. The joint is...

As a last resort you may consider surgery to remove fragments of the prolapsed disc are then removed. As I mentioned earlier it is important to stay active and continue with an exercise and stretching program. Especially do exercises to develop your back and stomach muscles. This will help stabilize your spine and support your body.

The main problem is these joints become habitually tight - as you cannot rest them as they are used almost constantly. To change these joints you need to target them at home each day and train them to work better. Treatment by a practitioner will help, but the breaking of habits requires daily, at home, techniques to train these joints to function correctly.

Piriformis syndrome is a condition in which the piriformis muscle irritates the sciatic nerve. The piriformis muscle is a small muscle behind the gluteus maximus. Piriformis syndrome is most common among women, runners and walkers.

If your pain is not relieved by analgesics or NSAIDs, your doctor might prescribe narcotic analgesics (such as codeine) for a short time. Side effects of these include nausea, constipation, dizziness and drowsiness, and continued use may result in dependency.

The most common joint to cause sciatica is seldom listed. The joint that allows sciatica to become chronic because it is rarely corrected. The joint you use in almost every activity, whether you bend, lift, twist or even turn over in bed. This joint has no disc and hence can become inflamed and cause back pain and sciatica easily.

Spinal stenosis is the name given to the narrowing of the nerve channel (vertebral canal) of the spine. This narrowing causes compression of either the spinal cord within the vertebral canal, or the nerve roots that exit the spinal cord. People with spinal stenosis experience sciatic pain symptoms in the legs and feet. It usually results from degenerative arthritis causing a narrowing of the spaces in the vertebral canal. Manual workers are more prone to developing symptoms of spinal stenosis but it seldom affects people under 30 years of age - unless it is due to traumatic injury to the vertebrae.

Sciatica Treatment At Home There are many home based sciatica treatment too. Some of them are very effective in curing your sciatica pain quickly. For example ice treatment is very effective in controlling sciatica pain if it is used with in 48 hours of the onset of pain. Movement is also a good option in reducing pain. Doing exercises that stretch piriformis muscles are helpful in controlling sciatica pain. Balancing your pelvis region properly also helps in controlling pain. You can do this by lying down on the bed to check whether the balance is properly distributed on both sides.

The cause The most common cause of sciatica is a prolapsed (slipped) disc, pinched nerves or some form of arthritis. It usually starts with back pain which sometimes improves only to be followed by hamstring or calf pain. It may also include numbness in the toes depending on which branch of the sciatic nerve is irritated.

If your sciatic nerve becomes inflamed, the condition is called sciatica (pronounced si-ad'-i-ka). The pain can be intense! It often follows the path of your nerve - down the back of your leg, ankle, foot, and toes - but it can also radiate to your back! Along with burning, sharp pains, you may also feel nerve sensations such as pins-and-needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations, or tenderness. Ironically, your leg may also feel numb!

It is also important to maintain a reasonable body weight, ensure you have a good posture, sleep on a mattress that is neither too soft nor too hard, be careful when bending or lifting heavy weights.

Sciatica can reduce your mobility and normal daily activities considerably. The duration of the pain varies according to the inherent cause and may subside in 4-8 weeks time. However, there is no need to loose hope. There are many sciatica treatments both clinical and home based which can help cure and manage sciatica and reduce pain.

For sciatica sufferers, a good night's sleep may be a thing of the past. Simple things like walking, sitting, or standing up can be difficult or impossible.

Bill Morrison has his own website http://www.help4urback.com where he describes his own personal experiences coping with lower back pain and sciatica. He also includes personal recommendations for people who suffer from sciatica or lower back pain including what books to buy, TENs machines, and what web sites to check out.

Since getting mobile and becoming flexible is extremely important you might require some pain management to help you get going. For mild cases of sciatica your doctor may start off by recommending non prescription medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen, known as non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. A downside of these drugs is that they may cause stomach upsets or bleeding.

The Sacro-Iliac joint is not a normal joint; the sacrum itself is affected by your occiput (the back of your skull). Both of these joints move in tandem when you breathe. If this mechanism tightens then your entire spine will stiffen and especially the Sacro-iliac joints. Your meninges (the sheath covering your spinal cord) attaches into the base of your skull, has a minor attachment in the spine between your shoulder blades, and then again at the base of the spine at the sacrum/coccyx.

In extreme cases spinal injections of corticosteroid into the epidural space (the area around the spinal nerves) or facet joint (between vertebrae) may be given. This is usually carried out by a specialist with follow up injections at a later date.

Exercise After the reduction in pain, doctors suggest exercises and physiotherapy to avoid the recurrence of the problem. These exercises are mainly aimed at improving your mobility, rectifying your posture and in making the muscles around your lower back strong.

Something that is seldom taught by structural practitioners. Why? Your sciatica would disappear and not return. Leaving your therapist without a patient to treat for the next few years or longer. The big problem is most practitioners will not even assess this joint as being a problem in sciatica.

As a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist, I take a different approach to the treatment and prevention of sciatica. After a thorough neurological exam, I determine which part of the nervous system is not functioning properly. In many sciatica patients, I find a high mesencephalic output.

"I found Sciatol in google. I didnt belive it could work for me, but i ordered anyway just because of the money back promise. Ive been taking it for a month and I noticed my lower back pain is almost gone. Thank you!" Peter

Sciatica occurs due to the compression at the base of the spine. This compression leads to pain in the lower back and gluetal region of the body. This pain travels to ankle, calf, thighs and knee. Real Sciatica happens when the pain reaches the knees and the ankles. Sciatica actually is the pain that moves through the sciatic nerve - the longest nerve in your body. This nerve starts from your spinal cord to your hips and down to the leg. The pain therefore moves along this nerve and the parts of body it connects. Sciatica actually may not be problem in itself. It may have other inherent causes which are connected to the sciatic nerve like herniated disk.

The spine is made up of a series of connected bones called "vertebrae." Spondylolisthesis or isthmic spondylolisthesis occurs when a cracked vertebra slips over the vertebra below it. Poor posture and curvature of the back or weak abdominal muscles can contribute to this slippage, which can press on the nerve. The presence of this spondylolysis usually does not represent a dangerous condition in the adult and most treatments concentrate on pain relief and increasing the patient's ability to function.

Common Sciatica Treatments Bed Rest The most common sciatica treatment suggested by doctors is bed rest. It helps in relieving pain. However, only taking bed rest is not going to solve the problem fully. You should combine rest with physical activity that is enough to keep you active without aggravating the pain.

To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in the back of the legs or thighs, some people may feel pain in the front or side of the legs or even in the hips. For some, the pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica!

The discs which cushion the vertebrae in the lower back become progressively thinner and harder as we get older. This stresses the lower back and often causes a variety of lower back pain disorders, including sciatica.

Steroid Based Treatments Sometimes, the doctors also prescribe epidural or corticosteroid steroid injections to help reduce inflammation in the effected areas.

It is a joint that is seldom checked and often forgotten about by most practitioners, and rarely treated. Most at home exercises fail to target this joint in sciatica conditions. However if this joint is not corrected effectively, sciatica will commonly become chronic.

If this Sacro-Occipital mechanism tightens, so do the meninges. This can lead to aches and pains throughout the spine. The tightness is greatest in the lower back and leads to sciatica.

Sciatica can be caused by numerous factors. Most of you are aware of the Piriformis muscle that has the sciatic nerve running through or next to it. If this muscle tightens, sciatica occurs. There are also the disc irritations and joints in the lower back that can all help sciatica to occur. However...

Sciatica is usually caused by a prolapsed or 'slipped' disc bulging and pressing on to a nerve. It doesn't usually cause permanent nerve damage since the spinal cord is not present in the lower part of the spine and a prolapsed or herniated disc in this area does not pose a risk of paralysis.

Medicines The pain can be treated with anti inflammatory non steroidal dugs combined with drugs that relax muscles. Anticonvulsant drugs and Tricyclic antidepressants are also prescribed to reduce pain. These drugs work in two ways - by blocking the sensations in reaching your brain - and by producing endorphins that naturally help reduce pain.

The quality of pain may vary. There may be constant throbbing, but then it may let up for hours or even days; it may ache or be knife-like. Sometimes postural changes like lying down or changing positions affect the pain, and sometimes they don't. In severe cases, sciatica can cause a loss of reflexes or even a wasting of the calf muscles.

There is a fairly new procedure called IDET which stands for Iintro Discal Electrothermy). When a disc is herniated the water content of the inflamed disc causes it to bulge and press against the nerve. IDET dries up the disc very quickly, in less than 20 minutes, a process which might take weeks or months if left to dry up naturally

Stretching and exercising are a must if you really want to progress along the road to rehabilitation and if you are in extreme pain this is probably the last thing you will contemplate doing.

Sciatic pain is usually nerve related and responds well to treatment with low doses of tricyclic anti-depressant drugs like amitriptyline, dothiepin, nortriptyline, lofepramine, desipramine, clomipramine or imipramine combined with acupuncture or the use of TENs machines. The low dosage of the tricyclic drug acts by closing "a pain gate" blocking the message to the brain.

This information in this article should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease. You should always consult with your health care professional especially relating to the suitability of supplements or drugs and on all health matters that may require diagnosis or medical attention. If you suffer from progressive weakness in the leg or bladder or bowel incontinence this constitutes a medical emergency and you should seek immediate medical attention - you may have cauda equina syndrome a serious condition due to compression of the nerve roots in the lower end of the spinal canal.

Other treatments to manage sciatica include traction; manipulation by a skilled osteopath, physio therapist or chiropractor; Chemonucleolysis (injection of a special enzyme into the disk).

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The Cure Some cases of sciatica which result from inflammation get better with time and heal themselves perhaps within six weeks to three months.

Are you one of the over 80% of adults suffering from back pain? Then you need simple, valuable and expert advice - visit The Back Pain Advisor - http://www.back-pain-advisor.com.

However in sciatica the key is to make sure your Sacro-Iliac joints are moving correctly. Fail to do this and your sciatica may very well become chronic. Something you can avoid easily by learning simple ways to get this joint moving now!

Recent studies have shown that bed rest is not necessarily the best way to treat sciatica. It is better to remain active, starting off with some gentle stretching and exercise. Swimming is particularly useful, as it is not a weight bearing exercise. The good news is that herniated spinal discs usually do heal on their own, given time.

There are three parts to the brain stem: top, middle and lower. The mesencephalon is the top part of the brain stem. A high output of the mesencephalon will cause an increased pulse and heart rate, the inability to sleep, or a waking, fitful sleep. Other symptoms might include urinary tract infections, increased warmth and sweating, and sensitivity to light. Along with a high mesencephalic output, the migraine patient may present with a decreased output of the cerebellum. The cerebellum controls balance, coordinated movement, and the involuntary muscles of the spinal column.

These sciatica treatments can help in curing and reducing your sciatica pain.

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For more info on sciatica treatment head to: http://www.sciaticatreatment.org today!

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